"X-Men: Days of Future Past" director Bryan Singer, who turns 50 today, unveiled his new project on Instagram earlier today. As you can see from the below script photo, Singer will take a break from Mutants to tackle sea monsters in a new feature film adaptation of Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."
A photo posted by Bryan Singer (@bryanjaysinger) on Sep 17, 2015 at 10:14am PDT
Verne's classic novel was originally a serialized story published in 1869. It centers on Captain Nemo and the crew of his submarine vessel, the Nautilus, as they set out on countless epic endeavors and come in contact with exotic sea life.
There have been a handful of big screen adaptations of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" with director Richard Fleischer creating one for Walt Disney Pictures back in 1954. Arguably the most famous film adaptation starred Kirk Douglas and won two Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Set Decoration Color and Best Effects, Special Effects.
Walt Disney nearly brought the property back to live with David Fincher ("Gone Girl") attached to direct a few years ago. However, nothing ever came of it.
Given Singer's long standing relationship with 20th Century Fox, it is assumed that the studio is behind this new version, though that is still unconfirmed at this time. Singer provided the story for this updated take while screenwriters Rick Sordelet and Dan Studney (Studney worked with Singer on "Jack the Giant Slayer") wrote the script.
As Singer says in his post, he is not abandoning the "X-Men" movie universe. Fans of the film franchise shouldn't be worried about losing the guiding hand just yet.
It's unknown when Singer plans on getting started with the adaptation, but we'll keep you posted as more details begin to emerge.
